Surrey Cross-Country Championships

Striders of Croydon faced strong opposition in the Surrey Cross-Country Championships, at Dorking on Sunday. In the women’s race, Consuelo Kennefick ran well to place third in the W50 age-group and 46th overall out of 106 finishers, completing the eight-kilometre course in 41:12. Club colleague Elspeth Meakin was 104th (56:15). In the men’s race, James Rhodes was 85th out of 227 finishers, completing the 12-kilometre course in 49:39. Tom Gillespie was 136th (54:00) and Josef Freedman 160th (56:31).

Striders had an impressive total of 124 finishers in the various Christmas Day parkruns. Kara Boaks was the first woman to finish the South Norwood parkrun, placing 18th overall (21:52). Two days later, Kara was the first woman to finish the Riddlesdown parkrun, placing 21st overall (22:08). 

On New Year’s Day, Tatsuya Okamoto placed first out of 74 finishers in the Hikarigaoka parkrun near Tokyo (18:08). Rachel Lindley was the first woman to finish the Milton parkrun near Cambridge, placing sixth overall (20:06). Consuelo Kennefick was the first woman to finish the Riddlesdown parkrun, placing 20th overall (22:16). 

On Saturday, Tatsuya Okamoto placed first out of 42 finishers in the Momoi Harappa parkrun near Tokyo (17:48). Rachel Lindley was again the first woman to finish the Milton parkrun, placing eighth overall (20:28), while Consuelo Kennefick was again the first woman to finish the Riddlesdown parkrun, placing 16th overall (22:24).

In the Staplehurst End of Year 10-mile race, Alex Legge was the eleventh woman to finish, placing first in the W45 age-group and 91st overall (79:37). For Striders’ men, Nathan Davies was 27th (68:42) and Peter Johnson 47th (72:59). In the Tadworth 10-mile race, Rob Zietz was 139th (83:05), David Foster 165th (84:52), Radhika Lingham 367th (1:47:37) and Amy Foster 388th (1:51:41).